Basting and Free Motion Quilting With a Minky Backing

Last week I got on a sewing kick and whipped up a Plaid-ish Quilt by Kitchen Table Quilting. The pattern is a free download and was a lot of fun to put together. Nice and scrappy! About half way through I almost decided to stop, because it was hard to see the pattern. But I kept on going and it turned out well. I think I might make it again in a different color way.
 

I decided to use some red dot minky from Michael Miller Fabrics for the backing fabric. I wondered if I would have any problems with the minky stretching or with the spray baste working well with it, but everything went without a hitch. As I taped the minky to the floor, I was careful to just smooth and not to stretch it. When I smoothed the batting over the minky there was a bit of a give and it felt like the minky backing was stretching a bit, but there weren't any issues and not one pucker on the back.

For basting, I'd give it two thumbs up! I'm trying to use minky for more of my backings, because my kids like minky backed quilts more than quilts with regular cotton backings. I'd love them to be fighting over who gets one of my quilts, instead of who gets to use the old fleece blanket. :)

(Don't know how to spray baste and want to learn how? Check out this tutorial: How to Spray Baste a Quilt from Cluck, Cluck, Sew.)

After basting, I quilted it with a simple meandering free motion quilting design. It went super fast! While quilting, I didn't notice any real difference between the minky and regular quilting cotton. I had hoped that the soft minky would slide around more easily while I free motion quilted, but no such luck.  :)

The only difference was that, occasionally, the needle would carry a bit of red minky fuzz up to the top of the quilt. This might be because I used basting spray and the needle was a bit sticky. Perhaps some of the fuzz was sticking to the needle? It only happened a bit and wasn't a deal breaker for me and it was subtle enough, that it was really hard to photograph. (Since writing this, someone has suggested using non-stick needles to avoid that problem.)
 
When I finished quilting, I trimmed the extra batting and backing off the quilt. This is where I saw a difference between quilting cotton and minky. When I cut through the minky, I got red fuzz all over myself and the cutting mat. Thankfully, it wiped off easily. (Just do a quick check before you go to the store with fuzz all over your pants!) I didn't have any problems with binding either. I always use a walking foot to help feed the layers of the quilt evenly and I think that is especially important with the minky.

So, am I going to use minky again? You betcha! The kids absolutely LOVE it! Now I just need to make a minky-backed quilt for all of them. :)

Fresh & Scrappy Block of the Month 2019

I am using a light yellow minky on the back of my Fresh & Scrappy Block of the Month quilt. I hope to finish quilting and binding it this weekend. I am loving the minky and I haven't noticed any fuzz on the top of the quilt this time round.

Let me know if you have any questions about using minky. I'm not an expert, but I'll help if I can.